Police Investigating Harlem Assault as a Hate Crime

UPDATED | The Columbia University assistant professor whose assault is being investigated by police as a hate crime said Monday that his injuries could have been worse if a Good Samaritan hadn’t intervened.

Prabhjot Singh, who wears a turban and a long beard in accordance with his Sikh faith, said he suffered lacerations and a fractured lower jaw after he was punched and kicked while walking with a friend, also a Sikh, on 110 Street near Lenox Avenue on Saturday.

Adrian Fussell for the Wall Street Journal

Columbia University professor Prabhjot Singh, left, speaks on Monday about being the victim of an alleged hate crime in Harlem on Saturday.

Right before the alleged attack, Mr. Singh said he “heard ‘get him, Osama.’ I heard ‘terrorist.’”

Mr. Singh — who happens to be an outspoken advocate for combating bias crimes against the Sikh community – told investigators that when he turned around, he saw between 12 and 15 people on bicycles. The alleged attackers are between 15 and 20 years old, he said. He told police he was then struck by some of the suspects as they rode away and was also punched and kicked about six times on the body and face.

“I felt somebody grab my beard while on a bike. What ensued was punching until I was ultimately on the ground,” he said at a news conference on Monday.

Mr. Singh, 31 years old, said he was thankful the injuries were not much worse. At least one person intervened on Mr. Singh’s behalf, police said. “I couldn’t possibly and wouldn’t guess what would have happened” if the bystander had not come to his aid, Mr. Singh said.

Right before the attack, Mr. Singh said he had dropped his wife and 1-year-old son at their Harlem apartment.

The New York Police Department said Monday that they are investigating the assault as an anti-Muslim hate-crime. It will be up to NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force to determine if the attack was a hate crime, but Mr. Singh said, “it certainly felt like it was motivated by my appearance.”

Mr. Singh was brought to Mount Sinai Hospital — where he is also a resident physician — and was treated for his injuries and released.

Mr. Singh told police he didn’t get a clear view of the alleged attackers and therefore could not review mug shot photos or help complete a composite sketch. The NYPD on Monday released surveillance video of more than a dozen cyclists gathering near where the crime occurred and asked the public to help identify them, saying the cyclists are wanted for questioning. The attack was not caught on surveillance video.

The attack Saturday night was the most recent on a member of the Sikh community, which has faced numerous bias attacks locally and nationally in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Attacks against Sikhs have been classified by Federal Bureau of Investigation under anti-Muslim crimes. But that will change in 2015, officials said, after an attack at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee in 2012 in which a white supremacist killed six people, including himself.

Saturday’s attack also comes after a study gauging the nationwide public perception of Sikh Americans was financed and released by the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The study showed that “70% of Americans misidentify turban-wearers in the U.S.” and that “nearly half of Americans believe ‘Sikh’ is a sect of Islam,” according to SALDEF.
“Unfortunately our research confirms that Prabhjot’s experience is not the resulted of isolated misperception and intolerance,” said Jasjit Singh, SALDEF’s executive director.
“Here you have a practicing doctor, a teacher and a community servant falling victim to hate in the largest and proudest melting pot in America. This violence is an affront to all Americans’ core values,” he said.

Mr. Singh said his own experience only further reinforced his faith and desire to help those who feel uncomfortable when they see someone in a turban and a beard on the street. He said he would like to see that “the exact opposite reaction occurs instead of fear.”

“I think that’s our core teachings,” he said of his Sikh dogma. “You see this face and you look for help. That’s what we are here to do.”